Review: The Whatever Society by Steve Richer

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This review of The Whatever Society by Steve Richer is a reblog from my original review over at Goodreads.com. Note that my star rating system here on time2timetravel differs from that of Goodreads (the latter is biased towards favourable ratings).

I picked up a copy of The Whatever Society in ebook format from Amazon because it was short and it was free. I thought I couldn’t go wrong – perhaps I did, because it turns out that whilst it might be a free lunch, we’re strongly recommended to make a purchase from the desert menu.

Writing style and plot

The beginning of the story starts off well; the pacing is good and it’s engaging. Sadly it disintegrates into a “tell-not-show piece” towards the end where the Steve Richer’s idea of the future is spurted out by an unlikely group with whom the main character finds himself. It comes over as very rushed.

I like the idea of how the future is going to pan out – it’s certainly interesting and gives food for thought, but the way it actually comes about is pretty lame, using specific and timely examples which draw far-fetched conclusions from mundane occurrences.

The solution to the demise of the new future had an interesting and original new angle. However, it was wildly unrealistic – not on a scientific level, but on a character basis – given the main character’s personality, he would never have been able to pull it off.

Finally, the closing sentence suggests that there was a romantic element but this had not been developed earlier in the story so it simply comes over as a cheesy ending.

A short story or a long advert?

“Ending”?

In the version of the e-book I downloaded, there was a huge (about 30%) preview section for another of his novels. Ironic really, because The Whatever Society puts me off reading anything further from Steve Richer rather than developing any further interest in his writing.

Ultimately I can’t help wondering if The Whatever Society by Steve Richer a short story or a long advert to lead the reader into getting hold of another one. Either way I guess it fails – the story comes over as rushed tell-not-show, and it’s put me off reading more from Steve Richer.

Whatever.

Overall…3 stars for blandidty and some good ideas, but it loses anything more positive for the poor delivery towards the end.